T.N.T.

It should be more like the old format but I believe there is still two reserve races and the #7 comes out with and against second strings in his other two rides where as the #6 can be alongside or against a heat leader.

KK returns has made the rider at 23 become 25 technically as Buczkowski returning made 24 become 25 and now KK has made him 26 It only applies to new riders coming in like for example Buczkowski or if only Patryk Dudek on a 6.50 or more. Kings Lynn for example keeping Iversen would have meant Bjerre was further down the list and technically if it's right they could have had Bjerre and Lambert as second strings but would still have to be under the 40.5 limit. Swindon could be going for a strong top three of Doyle, Zengota and Morris which is fine but leaves them little when you add Wright and Nielsen at reserve it leaves just just over nine points for the last two which could mean another 3.00 starting at #2 with Wright eventually moving up However they hold the cards as they have the outright number one and one of the best of the rest in Zengota.

It has been changed so the #7 is protected but not thew #6 As most simple things it has been kept under wraps

Maybe Richie Worrall is to be the second reserve and Belle Vue are going for a more solid line up of something like 1 Craig Cook 7.29 2 3 Simon Stead 6.70 4 5 Scott Nicholls 6.48 6 Steve Worrall 5.02 7 Richie Worrall 4.22 10.29 left for two riders like Sam Masters 5.60 and Tobiasz Musielak 4.53 or riders like that ?

It would be if there was riders around for 8 teams to get upto that limit 8 x 40.5 = 324 Riders available is around 300

The Worrall brothers could be both at reserve to form possibly the strongest pairing which backs them up from having mediocre second strings, Holder not confirmed and may well be another GP rider forgetting Britain and Davey Watt staying at Poole instead ?

As stated in my earlier post the list is more than 24 and the top 24 that start the season are classed as heat leaders, so riders at the bottom of the list could move onto or off the list. At present Kenneth Bjerre is 25th but if Walasek doesnt return he moves up to 24th and on the list. Likewise, if a 6+ rider comes into the league, the rider at 24 moves down to 25 and therefore a second string. So Swindon can be confident that Doyle, Zengota and Morris will be in the 24 and sign them where as Kings Lynn have to be careful with Bjerre and signing other heat leaders in case he is included on the list. ....... so its like a 24 rung ladder and a ridr is on each rung or standing at the side.

The list of Heat Leaders has not been made public which I think is another way the sport lets itself down by not informing the fans of matters that are of interest and don't need to be kept confidential. Speedway fans are as avid followers of the sport and have a very good understanding of matters and holding back things like this treats them badly and like children. Here is what I have been told was the way the list is working as riders can move off onto the list depending on who else decides not to return or returns. This is not saying it is correct but as usual its complicated but that is not unusual in Speedway rules and regulations. Not including riders we know are not returning like Iversen, Janowski, Kildemand etc here is the list of 26 riders with the highest averages likely to start next season after riding in 2015. Riders that were or are doubling up and didn't start as a heat leader in 2015 are not included. The exception to the rule is Simon Stead who started as a heat leader at Belle Vue..Daniel King started as a heat leader as Kylmakorpi was added after the start of the season to replace Jamrog. Craig Cook is on the list as he isn't doubling up in 2016 and moves up full time. Any additional riders added with a 6+ average go onto the list in order and any riders that are not returning get removed. At present as two riders have joined the list, the riders listed at 23 and 24 may be allowed to start as second strings as long as a rider higher in the list doesnt start which would move them up the order. So Walasek at 22 may not be returning which would move Bjerre back in as a heat leader at 22. 01 = 9.44 Jason Doyle SWI 02 = 7.84 Andreas Jonsson LAKE 03 = 7.79 Grezgorz Zengota SWI 04 = 7.47 Chris Holder PLE 05 = 7.34 Chris Harris COV 06 = 7.29 Craig Cook BV 07 = 7.19 Davey Watt ....... LEI ? 08 = 6.98 Kim Nilsson LAKE 09 = 6.91 Troy Batchelor ...... KL ? 10 = 6.80 Jonas Kylmakorpi WOL 11 = 6.70 Nick Morris SWI 12 = 6.70 Simon Stead ....... BV ? 13 = 6.48 Daniel King COV 14 = 6.48 Scott Nicholls BV 15 = 6.45 Hans Andersen PLE 16 = 6.24 Rory Schlein ........ KL ? 17 = 6.18 Jacob Thorssell ....... LAKE ? 18 = 6.16 Mikkel Bech WOL 19 = 6.16 Max Fricke .......... LEI ? 20 = 6.11 Fredrik Lindgren WOL 21 = 5.91 Dakota North .......... KL ? 22 = 5.91 Gregorz Walasek ........... LEI ? ------------------------------------ 23 = 5.87 Kenneth Bjerre KL 24 = 5.67 Vaclav Milik 25 = 5.51 Peter Karlsson 26 = 5.51 Symon Wozniak LEI NEW RIDERS ADDED TO THE LIST 7.97 = Krzysztof Kasprzak COV 6.48 = Krzysztof Buczkowski PLE DOUBLING UP RIDERS NOT INCLUDED XX = 6.82 Aaron Summers XX = 6.59 Robert Lambert XX = 6.00 Josh Grajczonek XX = 5.91 Ricky Wells XX = 5.86 Edward Kennett XX = 5.65 Richard Lawson XX = 5.60 Sam Masters 6.55 Bjarne Pedersen could return to Lakeside making Walasek at Leicester a second string and move Thorssell to Leicester. So unless new riders are added to the list this is what could be the final list of teams ...... COULD BE !! THREE HEAT LEADERS PER TEAM Belle Vue (39.50) = Cook, Nicholls and Stead . .......... Summers and Worrall as a second strings .... Worrall / 3,00 Coventry (39,30) = Kasprzak, Harris and King ...... Karlsson and Garrity as a second strings ..... Sarjeant / Bates Kings Lynn (38.82) = Batchelor, Schlein and North . ...... Bjerre and Lambert as second strings ..... Kerr / Rose Lakeside (39.64/5) = Jonsson, Nilsson and Thorssell ........ Kennett and Lawson as second strings ..... Blackbird / Mears Leicester (38.92/6) = Watt, Fricke and Walasek ........ Wozniak and Masters as a second strings ...... Auty / Starke Poole (38.91) = Holder, Buczkowski and Andersen ...... Kurtz and Grajczonek as a second strings ...... Newman / Ellis Swindon (36.26/6) = Doyle, Zengota and Morris ......... Sedgeman and 3.00 as second strings ..... Wright / Nielsen Wolves (37.84) = Kylmakorpi, Lindgren and Bech ...... Wells and Joel Andersson 5.50 as second strings ..... Howarth / Clegg PS; This also shows the limit could be 39.50 as most will struggle to get to 40.5 ...... remember this is only an example and averages used may not be fully correct by are about right in some cases.

out of interest then SCB, how many of the last 20 meetings did Ricky Wells ride as a heat leader but he is classed as a second string

You do realise to get to Poland you have to SIT on a plane in the SKY

Belle Vue have increased their season tickets from just over £200 to well over £300 but they have based that on 20 meetings. 14 league matches included but what else isn't said and obviously the opening meeting is not included and likely to be about £25 for adults but will have some big names riding. However if the team doesn't make the play offs then you are buying a season ticket to watch six meetings with no importance or details of who will be riding. If you buy a season ticket for say Man Utd or Aston Villa, yes they are different prices and yes they do lots of cup matches but they sell it on the basis of the 19 league matches so why can't clubs sell season tickets based on the 14 league meetings with a discount on play off meetings if required ?

So you will do Leszno v Zielona Gora or Wroclaw v Torun but you won't do Cardiff !! We are looking at flights from Birmingham and East Midlands and using either a hire car or trains depending on the track we are going to. Leszno / Gora is like Leeds v Millwall so expect anything but we certainly are looking at Wroclaw and Leszno meetings with a little help from over there

The list of 24 heat leaders also states that new riders will be added to the list if bought in like Buczkowski who like King has a 6.48 average and often rode at #5

TOP FIVE RIDERS IN THE 2016 ELITE LEAGUE 9.44 Jason Doyle (SWI) 7.97 Krzysztof Kasprzak (COV) 7.84 Andreas Jonsson (LAKE) 7.79 Grzegorz Zengota (possibly Swindon) 7.47 Chris Holder (possibly Poole) He may not be Mr Personality or done much in 2015 but remember this is a rider that 12 months ago finished runner up in the World Championships and can be a prolific scorer in the Elite League next season with no Iversen, Janowski, Zagar or Kildemand. One big league in 2 groups (10 home 10 away) before play offs Elite League every other Monday for ALL tracks (7 home 7 away) Use 5 riders in both competitions but in EL you have two star riders like Woffinden/Pawlicki at Wolves or Doyle/Kildemand at Swindon or Zagar/Vaculik at Belle Vue etc ....... then in the one big league you use two lower order riders at reserve that can also be National League riders, especially the #7. We are planning to do a few meetings at Leszno and Wroclaw next season, so we may form a little travelling club and make it a monthly trip

KK has been a prolific scorer in leagues over the last decade and yes 2015 was a bad year for him but he stayed in the same hotel as me in Bydgoszcz and before the GP at breakfast I spoke to him about his season and what he put it down to. He explained that upto that meeting he had only done about 30 meetings all season and the season before he had probably done about 100 at the same time of year. This not only gave him little chances to put things right but also knocked his self esteem and he was just waiting for the season to end before getting back to what he was like 12 months earlier. When we spoke about riding in Britain he admitted he not only did he want to ride over here but needed to and he thought it would help him get back to form. You don't become a bad rider over night and KK can be a great signing for Coventry where he has done well in the past. With no Iversen, Janowski and others, there is no reason he can't push towards being the best rider in the so called Elite League next season and will almost certainly start as the second highest rider behind Doyle. With Bomber he should provide a strong partnership and if they finish the team with someone like Jacob Thorssell 6.18 or Josh Grajczonek 6.00 they will have a strong a top five as most ...... but the weakest reserve pairing too.

With just under 15 points left for the last two places and two heat leaders already signed, they need to be looking at Kasprzak 7.97, Watt 7.17, Zengota 7.79 or Batchelor 6.91 and dare I say t but I think a season at Brandon would be good for all concerned for Jacob Thorssell 6.18 as a second string.

Was or Will ? It was just an example that if they used Batchelor instead of Zengota they could still sign a 5+ PL rider

So basically Doyle gets the fat bird and the others get a taxi Even if the limit was lowered to say 39 now, Swindon could still track Doyle, Zengota, Morris, Sedgeman, Wright and Nielsen and have space for a 3.00 rider to start at #2 and eventually move down. ...... That is of course if they go with Zengota instead of Batchelor which would enable them to sign a rider like Ashley Birks or Simon Lambert

2015 Averages inc Fast track riders PL averages converted to EL (some averages not correct but about that figure) Belle Vue - 41.78 .... Zagar 7.83 gone Coventry - 40.99 ..... Kings Lynn - 39.42 ...... Iversen 8.98 gone .... Schlein 6.24 not included Lakeside - 39.19 ..... Leicester - 38.63 ..... Poole - 43.10 ..... Janowski 8.97 gone ... Buczkowski 6.48 in ... Kurtz 5.46 in Swindon 42.52 ..... Kildemand 7.10 gone Wolves 35.91 ...... Karlsson 5.51 gone ? Even using the averages of fast track riders PL approximate averages shows that before more top names decided to ditch Britain, it was going to be very hard to get close to the 40.5 limit This would have been much better to have gone with my idea for the last decade or so of not just forming a British League involving all tracks but also turning the Elite League into a much better and stronger league using top riders in a season over just 14 meetings all on a Monday night and leaving the other six nights for Premier and British League fixtures. It obviously would have been a massive change and would only happen with all tracks helping out, but Premier League averages would have been used in all leagues and even now I feel it would have been better to have put the limit at 45 and used PL; converted averages where applicable. Jacob Thorssell 6.18 becomes 9.27 (1.5 conversion), Kacper Gomolski and Peter Karlsson 5.51 becomes 8.26 ........ This would have made the limit more obtainable and would have opened the door for more teams to join up or move the leagues closer ready for one big league next year. At present it looks like every team will struggle to reach the points limit apart from Swindon who could be tracking two of the top three averaging riders in Doyle 9.44 and Zengota 7.79 with Morris 6.70 forming the strongest heat leader trio by far. Change the limit and once and for all get rid of this terrible format

I agree in a way but the most important signing Wolves need is a strong heat leader and then if PK can return as a second string he gets to stay there all season. This season he started as a second string but it was clear he would soon move up but with Kylmakorpi, Freddie and a good #1 he should be able to be a good rider to have at #2 or #4. Just hope the whispers about Kenneth Bjerre being the third heat leader are wrong !!!

Think Coventry have made the mistake of not starting with Garrity at reserve as they are going to struggle getting close to the limit and could have gone with a good second string to have dropped down once he got a new average but instead they have gone with quite a weak pairing at reserve. Hans Andersen 6.45 was going to be a bargain next season and no suprise Poole saw that as their prime target and he will take some replacing as a heat leader while Daniel King 6.48 may have finished with a better average but will he be classed as a heat leader or a second string. There won't be many riders over a six average so I would have thought he had to be as he has to be in the top 20 riders in the league. Harris 7.34, King 6.48, Garrity 5.29, Bates 3.45, Sarjeant 3.12 leaves just under 15 points and think they will get someone like Kasprzak 7.97 or Zengota 7.79 as their last heat leader and then maybe get Josh Grajczonek 6.00, Peter Karlsson 5.51 or Ricky Wells 5.91 in to finish the team a point under the limit.

Haven't been on her for a bit which is a good job as I have not been too happy with the way the league is going and the limit set too high at 40,5 when there are not the riders around to be heat leaders especially with the likes of Janowski, Zagar, Iversen, Kildemand etc likely to be leaving Britain out of their plans next season. The limit should have been set lower at say 35 for the six riders and a draft rider at number 7 which is more realistic when you consider who is around to be selected and the averages they carry. As it is we have to try and build a strong team from the riders available and with Kylmakorpi 6.80 and Lindgren 6.11 already as heat leaders, Wolves have to be looking for the strongest rider available and that should be the rider left out at Swindon now Doyle has joined them and most likely it will be Zengota or Batchelor as I can't see Nick Morris being released. Some years ago Freddie was at Zielona Gora with Zengota and he came over with Freddie a few times to watch and wanted to come to England but he was never signed and Swindon stepped in and got a bargain and a committed rider who has not been given the credit he deserves and next season will start as one of the highest averaging riders in the Elite League at 7.79. With Kylmakorpi and Freddie that should be a decent top three when you look at what other teams could be and if Jacob Thorssell is classed as a second string (?) then there would be 6.25 left for the final place and that could be Ricky Wells 5.91 which is not as good as Rory Schlein 6.24 but he will most likely be a heat leader. Rumours at the end of the season however was that Sam Masters 5.60 will be a Wolves rider next season although I would rather go with young Joel Andersson who will possibly be assessed at 5.50 and looked good in the Olympique and on the pace for his first time at the Green. As for the sharing of Monmore with Cradley and the one meeting each fortnight, well it's not a great move for Wolves and hopefully if things change in the future Wolves will still hold the rights to riding there and it would have been good to have seen a Wolves team entering the National League instead of a so called outsider renting the Wolves track since 1928 and sharing the race night. One thing is for sure, if Wolves don't get a team challenging for honours and not having weekly racing, I can see the Wolves crowds getting smaller and Cradley getting much bigger crowds in the National League.

Tai was very happy at Wolves and if he was to ride in Britain he sees no reason to ride anywhere else but Britain is not in his plans apart from trying to help them get better training and support for the up and coming riders like Lambert, Garrity etc who are the future of Team GB and hopefully this will happen next year. Tai has a great back up team and Pete Adams is part of that in the pits and away from the track and is very helpful to a number of riders at Wolves especially on race days just as Midlo is at Poole.

Only Doyle, Janowski and Iversen have higher averages and Magic has already indicated he wont be back next season and after an up and down season it wouldn't be a suprise to see Iversen maybe give Britain a miss as it's getting tougher to stay in the top 8 next season in the GP's.

I think KK will do a good job for someone if he returns as he wants to but under the current format I could see him going the same way as Andersen, Lindgren and Bjerre in struggling around the six average. The format has to change back and if there was only one draft rider I feel would also be a benefit with riders like Clegg, Morris or Branford at #7 and protected to only ride reserves and second strings. Riders like Garrity, Worrall, Newman etc need to be part of the 1-6 and if that means riding in the main body then they should. As for Wolverhampton 2016 I can't see any reason why Fredrik Lindgren on 6.11 won't be in all permutations drafted up during the close season and while riders like Jason Doyle or Grzegorz Zengota 7.79 may be available, I think there will be some good 6+ riders moving on too like Andersen 6.45, Batchelor 6.91,Nick Morris 6.70 etc to form a solid top five all on modest averages. If the limit was 38-40 for six riders would be a better way to go giving Musielak or Andersson as a second string or reserve. something like .......... Batchelor, Morris, Andersen, Thorssell, Lindgren, Andersson and Clegg. ?